Srilanka’s Right to Information Bill in Parliament on 24th March 2016
Who wants this right to information bill? Is it the Public or Government and Non Governmental Organizations?
Senior Journalist, Dr.Kalan Jeyasooriya said that, Srilankan Public don’t have much knowledge about the fundamental rights obtained through the Right to Information bill. Hence, it is obvious that the Government and some NGO are more interested in Right to Information (R2I) than the Public.They are not aware that the Public can get information they need from a government Department, Ministry and Public get the right to question the Government in Power. Now to get any such in formation from Government ,Public has to approach the court and file a Public interest litigation in the court. But once the bill passed and it become an act of Parliament, Public can question wrong doings, Public contracts contravening regulations etc.For example, Public can question the Government which squandered reported Rs 3.7 billion on Mihin Lanka and similar wasteful expenditure.
Currently 70% of the countries in the World has already adopted the Right to Information bill. But they legislate the act during the last period of their term. However, good governance government in Srilanka has taken a bold step to legislate the bill on 24th March 20616.
Prime Minister on record has pledged, that he would adopt the bill without hindering the quality of its contents.